Sunday, August 2, 2015

Get What You Want: August 2015

1.Dixon Place and The Institute of Prophetic Activist Art LabDeadline: Aug 15thwebsite: http://dixonplace.org/Dixon Place announces the sponsorship of The Institute of Prophetic Activist Art, a laboratory for activist artists and their projects. The Institute is looking for 12 activist artists who would like to build their projects during the semester-long seminar, beginning August 30, basing their work Tom Block’s manifesto/handbook of art activism: Prophetic Activist Art: Handbook for a Spiritual Revolution.

The eight session seminar will introduce artists to the specific ideas of the model, including co-opting political, business and social energy; partnering with non-profit groups; making liaisons with other artists; utilizing unusual exhibition and outreach methods; “Machiavellian” activism; how to build a project from inception through completion; how to imagine and successfully attain quantifiable activist goals and other specific aspects of a Prophetic Activist Art intervention.

To apply: please send a cover letter outlining your activist idea, plus any activist art experience you have had; a link to a website or portfolio of images and a resume to: thomasablock@gmail.com

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, in collaboration with Howlround, A Center for the Theater Commons at Emerson College, established the National Playwright Residency Program (NPRP) in 2013. The pilot round, which was on an invitation-only basis, has provided three years of salary, benefits, and a flexible research and development fund for American playwrights at 14 selected theaters. The goals of the program are to:Advance the state of playwrights in the American theater by providing them with space, time, and resources, and greater access to the institutions in which they work;Influence the working environment of theaters by embedding playwrights in them;Generate public value through the interaction of playwright with local artistic and civic communities; Document and disseminate the findings to help benefit the field.

As we approach the end of the pilot phase of the program, the Foundation intends to issue an open call for Letters of Intent from theaters and artists, which must apply jointly. The application will be available here by July 15, 2015 and due no later than September 15th. We anticipate that the basic structure of the program will remain the same, with artist compensation based on the salary structure of the host institution. Upon review of the LOIs, a peer review panel will recommend a group of potential theater and playwright partners for consideration, and the Foundation will then issue invitations for them to submit full proposals. If approved, residencies could commence as of July 1, 2016.

As you consider whether you wish to apply, we have listed below the minimum requirements to submit a Letter of Intent:

CRITERIA FOR THEATERS

US-based 501(c)(3) with a minimum of five years in operationFull-time staff of at least two paid employeesMinimum operating budget of $300,000 (an average of the past three years)Demonstrated capacity to manage payroll and benefits processesMust have produced at least one play by the partner playwrightCommitment to produce at least one play (new or existing) by the partner playwright during the residency

CRITERIA FOR PLAYWRIGHTS-Residency in the same city or town of the theater and commitment to remain there for the full three years.-At least two professional productions completed—with one at the co-applicant theater

CRITERIA FOR BOTH-Only one application per playwright and theater allowed; both parties must apply together-Required attendance at two convenings during of the residencyCommitment to establishing and carrying through a plan for documentation of the residency-May not have participated in the previous round of the NPRP

2. The play must be a ten-minute play. The contest is open to anyone without geographic or age restrictions. You must submit online. Please fill out the submission form below and submit your play by December 1, 2015. There are no fees. Once you submit you will be taken to a page confirming that we have received your submission. You may only submit one play.

The story can be a comedy, a drama, a parody, absurd or anything in between (in English only). We accept any style except musicals.

The cover page should have the title of the play, the playwright's name and the list of characters. The pages should be numbered. The format should be easy to read. We accept previously produced plays (but not plays that have produced in InspiraTO before). The playwright must own the rights to the play up to June 12, 2016 (i.e. the script cannot be owned by a publisher).

We are particularly interested in scripts that aren't afraid to make bold choices: quality writing backed by imaginative staging. Only those playwrights whose plays have been selected will be notified by January 15, 2016.

The plays will be selected by a committee from the Toronto theatre community. If selected, your play will be performed in Toronto, Canada from June 2 - June 12, 2016. Between ten to eighteen, ten-minute plays will be selected and performed. 1st Prize: $500 CDN. Should your play be selected for inclusion in the festival, you are giving the non-exclusive right to Theatre InspiraTO to produce and perform the play in the 11th Annual InspiraTO Festival in Toronto (Canada's largest ten-minute play festival), in the June 2016. The InspiraTO Festival will find the cast, crew and market your play. Authors retain copyright and full ownership of their plays.

3. The submission must be a play. A ten-minute play is distinct from a sketch, or a skit; it is a compact play, with a beginning, middle and an end. You need a character facing obstacles in pursuit of some specific goal. You need rising action, conflict, and a climactic moment and your play must tell a complete story.

Generally speaking, scripts (including the stage directions, character names and dialogue) that are over 1,900 words are more than ten minutes long on stage. This does not mean that all plays under 1,900 words are under ten minutes, so be wise: use Word Count and read the play out loud while timing the length (including all pauses). You don't want your hard work rejected because it was too long.

The Play Lab is a UMass Department of Theater mainstage production, running from March 20 – April 2, 2016. One playwright will be chosen for a two week residency during this period. These residencies are structured around a series of public staged readings directed and dramaturged by UMass Amherst graduate students and performed by undergraduate actors. The two week workshop term allows time for exploration in rehearsal and the generation of new material.

Our mission this year is to develop two exceptional new plays: one from our current visiting artist Kim Euell, and the other selected through this call. The Play Lab is process oriented, focusing on an experience that is educational, exploratory, and collaborative. The workshops will have minimal technical/design support, but the emphasis will be on presenting and responding to the text. The UMass Amherst Department of Theater's commitment to new play development is internationally recognized, from our groundbreaking work with New WORLD Theater to our recent collaborations with artists like MJ Kaufman, Michael Yates Crowley, Will Power, Marcus Gardley, and Constance Congdon. We approach new play development with rigor and sensitivity and we're seeking playwrights who are as passionate about this process as we are.

We offer a $750 honorarium per playwright. Accommodations will be provided. Playwrights are responsible for booking their travel arrangements, and will be reimbursed for a portion of the cost. The playwright may be asked to give a playwriting workshop to students for an additional honorarium.

The playwright is expected to be in residency for the full 2 week workshop period. During this time, the playwright may provide as many changes as desired. The playwright is expected to attend nightly rehearsals and the three readings. The playwright can choose to participate in audience talkbacks. Playwrights may be asked to meet or discuss the play with the team prior to residency as available.

Plays must be full-length. Musicals are not accepted. Submissions may have had a previous reading, workshop, or production; as a rule, though, the Play Lab exists to develop relatively new work, so unproduced material will be given priority in our selection.

This year we are specifically seeking plays and playwrights that:offer something fresh, bold, or even dangerous in their form, style, or themescenter around issues relevant to a campus communitywill benefit from a workshop with undergraduate performers and graduate student staffmay give voice to underrepresented communities (e.g. LGBTQA folks, people of color, women, etc.)

Submission GuidelinesSubmit manuscripts to umassplaylab@gmail.com. All documents must be submitted in .pdf format; plays formatted otherwise will be disqualified. Please include a concise playwright’s bio and a short summary of how you think your play might benefit from a developmental reading. Submissions will be capped at 250 plays.

The Yale Drama Series is seeking submissions for its 2016 playwriting competition. The winning play will be selected by the series' current judge, distinguished playwright Nicholas Wright. The winner of this annual competition will be awarded the David Charles Horn Prize of $10,000, publication of his/her manuscript by Yale University Press, and a staged reading at Lincoln Center Theater.https://yup.submittable.com/submit--

Time Warner is the Founding Sponsor of the Emerging Writers Group, and provides continued program support through the Time Warner Foundation.

Writers are selected bi-annually and receive a two-year fellowship at The Public which includes a stipend. Staged readings of works by Emerging Writers Group members are presented in the Spotlight Series at The Public. The playwrights also participate in a bi-weekly writers group led by The Public’s literary department and master classes led by established playwrights. Additionally, they have a chance to observe rehearsals for productions at The Public, receive career development advice from mid-career and established writers, and receive artistic and professional support from the literary department and Public artistic staff. Members of the group also receive complimentary tickets to Public Theater shows, invited dress rehearsals, and other special events, as well as a supplemental stipend for tickets to productions at other theaters.The Emerging Writers Group, now accepting applications for its sixth cycle, targets playwrights early in their careers, creating an artistic home, support, and resources for a diverse group of up-and-coming playwrights. Through an open application process, The Public Theater will select 10 emerging playwrights to join the Emerging Writers Group from January 2016 through December, 2017.If you have specific questions, please email EWGquestions@publictheater.org after reading the below sections. Please pay close attention to the Frequently Asked Questions section below. No phone calls please.

Radcliffe Institute is accepting fellowship applications from the humanities, social sciences, and creative arts until 1 October.

Fellows receive office or studio space and access to libraries and other resources of Harvard University during the fellowship year, which extends from early September 2016 through May 31, 2017. Stipends are funded up to US$75,000 with additional funds for project expenses.Stipends are funded up to $75,000 for one year with additional funds for project expenses. Some support for relocation expenses is provided where relevant. If so directed, Radcliffe will pay the stipend to the fellow’s home institution.We work with fellows who have families to help with relocation issues for a smooth transition.

Fellows receive office or studio space and access to libraries and other resources of Harvard University during the fellowship year. Visual artists and film, video, sound, and new media artists may apply to come for either one or two semesters. In the event that they come for one semester, the stipend is $37,500. Fellows are expected to be free of their regular commitments so they may devote themselves full time to the work outlined in their proposal. Since this is a residential fellowship, we expect fellows to reside in the Boston area during that period and to have their primary office at the Institute so that they can participate fully in the life of the community.

The Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers supports projects that draw on the research collections at The New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (formerly the Humanities and Social Sciences Library). The Center looks for top-quality writing from academics as well as from creative writers and independent scholars. It aims to promote dynamic conversation about the humanities, social sciences, and scholarship at the very highest level — within the Center, in public forums throughout the Library, and in the Fellows’ published work. Fellows receive a $75,000 stipend.

Candidates who need to work primarily in The New York Public Library’s other research centers — The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the Science, Industry and Business Library — are not eligible for this fellowship.

In order to avoid real or apparent conflicts of interest, the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers does not accept applications from New York Public Library staff members or their partners, or from people active on the Library’s Board of Trustees, Board Advisory Committees, or Library Council.

Please visit www.nypl.org/research-collections for detailed information about the collections of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.

Fellows are required to work at the Cullman Center, on the project for which they applied, for the duration of the fellowship term. Fellows may have a few prior brief commitments, but must limit research trips, attendance at scholarly meetings, and speaking engagements, and may not accept other major work obligations during the course of this fellowship. Anyone who needs to be away for more than two days must notify the Director or Deputy Director in advance. The Library will pro-rate stipends for Fellows who spend too much time away from the Center.Fellowships will not be granted to post-doctoral fellows or to applicants doing graduate-school dissertation research.

The Cullman Center will not accept dossier letters in place of new letters of recommendation.Fellows must be conversant in English.Completed applications and supporting materials — research proposal, Curriculum Vitae, letters of recommendation, and art work sample or creative writing sample — must be submitted by 5 p.m. EST on September 25th.

New York Public Library staff members are not able to make corrections or additions once applications are submitted.

The winning play will be selected by Producing Artistic Director, Gwendolyn Whiteside, and the Ensemble. The winner of this annual competition will be awarded the Blue Ink Playwriting Award of $1,000 and receive a staged reading at American Blues Theater in Chicago.There is a $5 administrative fee. Please follow these guidelines in preparing your manuscript:- This contest is restricted to plays written in the English language. Worldwide submissions are accepted.-Submissions must be original, unpublished full-length plays written in English. Translations, musicals, and children’s plays are not accepted.- Playwrights may submit only one (1) manuscript per year.- Plays that have been professionally produced or published are not eligible. Plays that have had a workshop, reading, or non-professional production will be considered.- Plays may not be under option or scheduled for professional production or publication at the time of submission.- American Blues Theater reserves the Right-of-First-Refusal to produce the World-premiere of the winning manuscript for (1) year beginning with the public announcement in March 2015.-Plays must be sent as a Word document or pdf file to blueink@americanbluestheater.com.- Send the $5 administrative fee to: American Blues Theater, 1016 N. Dearborn, Chicago, IL 60610 or pay online here

Norton J. “Sky” Cooper established the New American Play Prize at Marin Theatre Company in 2007 to celebrate the work of the American playwright and to encourage the creation of bold, powerful new voices and plays for the American stage. The Sky Cooper Prize will be awarded annually to either an established or emerging playwright for an outstanding new work. The play selected as the Sky Cooper winner will receives a $10,000 award and a developmental workshop as part of the theater’s annual New Play Reading Series. The winning play will also be considered under option for a full production at MTC as part of the theater’s annual main stage season.

Sky Cooper New American Play Prize Guidelines• Submissions will be accepted from August 1 – 31, 2015• Submissions must be unpublished, original full-length plays in any genre.• Musicals, translations, individual one-acts, and any play submitted in a previous year for the Sky Cooper or David Calicchio Prizes are not eligible.• The submitted play may not have received or be scheduled for a full-scale, professional production prior to submission (plays that have had a workshop, reading, or non-professional production are eligible).• Playwrights must be citizens of the United States.• Only one submission per playwright is allowed each year; you may submit the same play for both prizes.• For the Sky Cooper prize, the submission is required to include a professional recommendation.

PHASE I: Submit a completed online submission form and 10 pages of consecutive sample dialogue. Agents may submit full scripts of their client’s work. Please do not send full scripts for Phase I unless via an agent or professional representation; unsolicited scripts will not be read.We prefer sample pages attached to the online submission form in .pdf format, with last name, first name, (title of the play) as the document title. For example: Wilson, August (Seven Guitars).pdf.PHASE II: Selected submissions will be invited to send full scripts for Phase II. All full scripts that have been solicited after Phase I will be read by a member of the Marin Theatre Company artistic staff.All scripts will be read by a member of the Marin Theatre Company artistic staff. Please do not send more than the requested materials. Do not send videos, CDs or DVDs. Incomplete submissions will not be considered. Due to the high number of submissions, not every playwright will receive a response to their Phase I submission. No materials will be returned. Winners will be chosen from among submitted and solicited scripts; final selections are made by Jasson Minadakis, Artistic Director.For questions or concerns, please contact literarymanager@marintheatre.org. Please, no phone inquiries.

Established to encouraged artists to make eye-catching, anything-goes theater, the Bad Theater Fest has hosted 200 short plays with the participation of nearly 500 playwrights, directors and actors. Past projects have ranged from plays from first-time writers, projects written specifically for Bad Theater Fest. to workshops for future performances.